Keeping Minnows Alive??

[TomC]

Thinking about getting up real early Sunday Morning and being on the lake at daybreak. I'm a newbie so I was wondering if I got some minnows late Saturday is there a way to keep them "kickin" overnight so they would be OK to fish with early Sunday morning. Not sure if they would make it for an extended period of time without being in aerated water.

tom

[gator]

Hmmm, I would think that if you could get them in a good amount of water, they would do okay. WALMART has a cheap aerator for think 5-6 bucks for small aquariums, you may wanna think about using something like that. I just recently made a tank out of a 55gl plastic drum. I bought an aerator from WALMART for 10 bucks, for 20-60 gal aquariums. Put 1lb of minnows in it last week, and have yet to see a "floater"

[Barnacle Bill]

Thinking about getting up real early Sunday Morning and being on the lake at daybreak. I'm a newbie so I was wondering if I got some minnows late Saturday is there a way to keep them "kickin" overnight so they would be OK to fish with early Sunday morning. Not sure if they would make it for an extended period of time without being in aerated water.

tom

As long as you keep them cool, they will keep for a long time. I've got some right outside my garage door right now that have been there for about 3 weeks. Styrofoam works best. On hot days I throw a frozen plastic bottle of water in there to keep the temp down.

[Crappie Stalker]

I use one of those cheap little aquarium aerators from Wallyworld, too. I've got a bucket full of minnows on the carport left over from last week and they're all still swimmin.

[TomC]

thanks........its amazing the problems that can all be solved by spending $10 at Wallmart. Heck....if we could figure out a way to breed those little suckers we could save a bunch of $.......lol.

tom

[CrappiePappy]

you're from TomC ... but, here in Lexington, I buy minnows at a PDQ Market (open 24/7). They have plastic bags and an air tank. Fill the bag about 1/3-1/2 full of water from the minnow tank ... dip your minnows ... stick the air hose in the top of the bag and twist the bag around it ... turn on the air and blow the bag up until it's almost full ... remove the air hose and twist the top of the bag closed (quickly) ... wrap a couple of rubber bands around the twisted bag top (as tightly as you can) ... pay the nice man/lady ... bring them home and put them in the fridge - come time to leave, the next day, place them in the livewell (plug in) and head out. There's been many a time I've done this, for the 1.5hr drive to my local lake. And they've even survived a 3.5hr trip to TN (a number of times). We even used to bag up a couple hundred per bag and drive the 5.5hrs to Ky/Barkley lakes.
Just make sure to "temper" the water you're putting them into, when you get to the lake. If the lake water is colder than the transport water - you should be OK. But, if the lake water is warmer ... I usually fill the livewell up with lake water (with bagged minnows still in there) and ride to my spot - then remove the bagged minnows and pour them into the bait bucket, transport water and all. Then I remove a little transport water, and replace it with lake water ... I do this every few minutes, until I get the water in the minnow bucket approximately the same temp as the lake water. Then I dip me up a couple dozen and put them in my "little" boat bucket - placing the main minnow bucket over the side and tying it to a cleat. I do all this about 25yrds away from the first spot I'm going to try ... bait up and use the trolling motor to ease into position - then drop 'er down there and wait to see what happens :D ..............cp

[Crappie Chaser]

If you're only getting 1 or 2 dozen minnows, they should keep well overnight in these cool nights. But if you're getting 3 or more dozens, they will require more oxygen, so I'd recommend an aerator from Wal-Mart or BPS to keep them alive. Since I got the Dry Hands Minnow Bucket, its insulated and all I had to do is flip the attached aerator on and they were all kickin' alive the next morning.

[Moose1am]

Hey TomC:

Everyone has mentioned the Walmart Aerorator but I will add this to their comments. You can get one of those blue stone things that are about 4" long and 1/2" wide. Stick that on the end of the aerator hose to divide the air up into many tiny bubbles. The smalle the bubble size and the more tiny bubbles the better transfer of oxygen from the air bubbles into the water. The deeper the water in the bucket the longer the air bubbles stay in contact with the water and the more oxygen dissolves into the water. The colder the water is the more oxygen it holds. That about covers getting o2 into the water for the minnows.

Water temp is critical as Crappie and others have said. Keep the water cool and you will be ok. A good way to cool the water down is to freeze some water in 2 liter pop bottles and stick those frozen pop bottles in the minnow buckets. You can use the smaller 1 quart size bottles. Fill them up about 5/6th the way full of tap water and stick them in the freezer before you go. Then take them out and use them to keep your sandwitches cool in the lunch bucket. After lunch you can use the frozen plastic soft drink containers to cool the minnow bucket water down. The frozen water inside the plastic soft drink container will not make contact with the water in the minnow bucket so you don't have to worry about adding chlorine to the water. Chlorine will kill the minnows. If you put water that is chlorinated and made into ice cubes in a minnow bucket the ice cubs melt and release chlorine into the minnow water. That is not good. You want to cool the water not add chlorine to the water.

And speaking of chemicals in the water. Minnows go to the bathroom in the minnow bucket and release ammonia into the water. There are chemicals sold at pet stores that treat the water in the minnow bucket to eleminate the ammonia and nitrites which form in the water after the minnows excrete ammonia in the water.

I can safely keep a 1/4 pound of minnows in a 5 gallon styrofoam lined minnow bucket during the cold months as the water is very cold and holds lots of oxygen and the cold water slows down the minnows metabolism so they don't excrete so much ammonia.

During the summer time I keep the minnows in my house in a 10 gallon aquarium that has a power filter and a gravel filter system. I have a power head that both aeroates the water and pulls the minnow poop down into the undergravel filter system. Bacteria living in the gravel eat the minnow poop. The bacteria get rid of the ammonia and the nitrites.

I make sure that the water in my aquarium is treated to control it's pH. I want a pH of 7.0 if at all possible. I buy a product called Ph 7.0 from the pet store. It comes in a small plastic bottle and it's a powdered form of chemicals. There is a small measuring device inside that is used to put the correct amount of powder into the water to keep the water's pH just right. It buffers the water also and give it the right Alkalanity.

If your water temps at the bait store and your minow bucket are the same as the lake's surface water then you can just pour out some water from the minnow bucket and add fresh lake water to the minnow bucket to eliminate the minnow waste products.

I can keep a few dozen minnows alive in my 10 gallon aquarium for a few weeks if I treat the water carefully.

At this time of the year when the water at the bait shop is almost freezing. Bait shop is in an uhneated pole barn and they don't heat the tank waters where the minnows are kept. With that cold water and my styrofoam lined minnow bucket I can bring a 1/4 lb or about 3 to 4 doz minnows in the house inside that bucket and stick a small air pump on the bucket and those minnows will stay alive for a few days easily.

I think you have enough good information to help you out now.

I was at the whole sale bait shop today and there was a guy and his wife there from Boonville. They were buying supplies and are going to reopen a bait shop in Boonville,IN. They said that it will have a self serve type device where you can put a dollar into a machine and get bait out like you can buy a soft drink can from the vending machines. I can't wait to see how that works. That would be great for those days when you get up at 4 am and head to the lake and didn't buy bait beforehand. Now I can stop and get minnows out of a vending machine at 4:30 am. LOL I am very curious to see how that is going to work.

[S10CHEVY]

One more thing. Like every thing else, minnows that are being kept, need to eat too. While at WallyWorld buy a container of guppy or goldfish food. I always keep some. Oh, by the way, keep the wife or girlfriend, or whom ever might be snooping around from smelling it. They will think it is spoiled, cause it usually stinks, and throw it away on you.

[KARL]

Thinking about getting up real early Sunday Morning and being on the lake at daybreak. I'm a newbie so I was wondering if I got some minnows late Saturday is there a way to keep them "kickin" overnight so they would be OK to fish with early Sunday morning. Not sure if they would make it for an extended period of time without being in aerated water.

tom

..I use a 5-Gal. used igloo drink dispenser the one with a spigot on the bottom....its well insulated and if you get the bait shop to fill it half full with water I've kept 3 dozen alive without feeding or any type of maintenence for 3 weeks in my uninsulated garage 30's at night 50's during day....good luck :D